


SuperCam AU (Dorkazoid)

by crazypyp



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:07:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24510541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazypyp/pseuds/crazypyp
Summary: This is an AU in which Cameron is a superhero going under the name of Dorkazoid.Cameron is a high school junior who had just recently managed to convince his mother to go to a normal public school after being raised in a literal bubble for all of his life. During this time, he managed to make a suit for himself just in case he got into any altercations. However, he never used it as he gained friends along the way who were Zoey & Mike.One day while the three were all hanging out, there was a type of attack happening on the streets caused by Showhost & his henchman Chef. The three hid behind an alleyway & Cameron then remembered he had a suit in his backpack that he activated, later turning him into his superhero sona now known by the public as Dorkazoid.
Relationships: Dawn/Scott (Total Drama), Mike/Zoey (Total Drama), Rudolph "Lightning" Jackson/Cameron Corduroy Wilkins
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

Cameron stood in front of the school, shaking a bit. He was really nervous. He had never been to a public school before. He had never seen any other people in real life before for that matter! His whole life, he was raised in a bubble. No particular reason. He didn't have any health conditions where he needed to live in them, his mom was just super overprotective of him. He looked around at all of the crowds of people while grabbing onto the strap of his backpack. He had a special surprise for any of the bullies that could come near him. Surprisingly, everyone seemed normal. Pretty okay. Different friend groups hanging out together & having fun. Two of them, who he had assumed to be dating as of how close they were, were talking & laughing.

The girl looked glanced over at him before turning to stare at him giving a small wave. He didn't assume the wave was for him & didn't wave back. She was wearing a red tank top, a purple skirt, & a flower in her hair. She was quite pale with extremely red hair separated into two pigtails. The boy was more tan than her & had messy hair styled into some mullet, accompanied with a blue & cream jacket, a green shirt, & ripped jeans. His eyes followed the girl's & he turned to look at the nerdy boy. Cameron was a bit nervous & quickly scurried off into the building. He really wanted to make friends, but he's never had any before & didn't want to make a fool. He wouldn't even know what to expect in a friendship!

While running off, he bumped into a girl wearing a varsity football jacket talking to a much taller & more muscular guy. "Hey, watch where you're going beansprout!" She yelled annoyed while rubbing her arm. "Oh...sorry. I didn't see you!" He said backing away quickly & going around them. "Uh, what's up with that kid?" The taller teen asked. She shrugged. "Eh, maybe he's just jittery or something." She said.

Cameron sighed, glad to get out of that situation. He avoided eye contact with most of the students, still giddy. "Hey new kid!" A male voice said. He turned around to see the same two people who he had made eye contact with as he entered the school. "Uh...hi..." He said with a weak wave. "We saw you looking around earlier & just thought we'd say hi. We haven't seen you around at all before so we assume you're new! Unless you aren't then this is just awkward..." The girl said looking at him a bit embarrassed. "No, you're correct actually. I am new." Cameron said to them."I'm actually new to school in general." He admitted.

"Oh, so you were home schooled?" The boy asked. "Something like that..." Cameron responded. "I-I'm Cameron..." He said with a small smile. Was he actually making friends right now? They seemed nice enough. "I'm Mike & this is my friend Zoey!" The taller boy said. "Nice to meet you two." He said. "Is this school normally this...crowded?" He asked looking around. "Yeah, but it's still a pretty cool school!" Zoey replied. "We'll show you to your first class. Do you have your schedule?" She asked. Cameron nodded & handed it to her. "Chemistry...so that's right...near the right side of the lockers, then at a left, going downstairs, near the bathrooms, behind the cafeteria, & then across from the entrance to the school basement!" Zoey explained. "Wait, behind the bathrooms?" He asked. "No, the cafeteria-" She said before beginning to explain again. Mike then cut her off.

How about we walk him there instead..." He suggested. "Oh yeah. That would be easier." She replied. Cameron nodded, a bit relieved he didn't have to remember all of that. The two led Cameron towards the classroom. "Okay! So this is your stop!" She said. "Oh, & if you need anything from us, don't hesitate to ask!" Zoey said with a smile. "Will do, thanks again." Cameron said & waited outside the door.

The bell rung & students began entering the classroom. Cameron hesitantly walked in & explained to the teacher that he was new & wasn't sure what to do. The teacher had him sit in an empty seat at a large table. It just so happened to be that it was in between the two jocks he bumped into from earlier. He swallowed a lump in his throat & went to sit with them. He avoided eye contact with them. He was really nervous & kind of afraid he was gonna get his ass kicked for this. He'd only really seen high school movies with stereotypes that included jocks that can knock your lights out.

The shorter girl glanced at him. "Aren't you that kid who bumped into me earlier today. Cameron's ears perked up. Great, she remembered. He just gave a shy nod. "I-it was an accident, really." He defended. "Relax maggot." She said to him. "No harm, no foul. The most ya did was hit my arm & scuff up my clothes but I already do that stuff willingly anyways." She explained. "Jo." She said putting her arm out for a hand shake. "& that doofus next to ya is Lightning." Cameron turned to look over at him. He was quite tall & looked like your average jock. "I'm Cameron..." He said. "It's nice to meet you both." "Y'know. I've never met a guy named 'Camera' before! Interesting name. Does that mean that when you blink, your brain captures a photo?" He asked looking at him. "Cameron you idiot-" Jo said annoyed. "Not Camera!" Cameron nodded. "It's a common mistake." It really wasn't, but he didn't want him to feel bad.

The second bell rang & the teacher took role before announcing a new assignment. It was a group project with the people sitting at the same table as one another. Cameron looked at he board. He didn't think he was ready to do the project, but maybe his group would help him out. They didn't seem all too bad after all.

"All right you two." Jo began. "I'm the leader of this project, got it?" She said. Cameron was intimidated by how tough she was. She looked pretty scary. Cameron nodded. "That works...as long as I can help too since I know some things about chemistry. I'd just have to find my books." He said. "Alright then! Let's just take them out then!" Lightning said going to grab the bag to give to Cameron. Cameron quickly yanked it away. If he wrong pocket were accidentally open, he'd get in series trouble. Lightning didn't think much about the action, but Cameron's behavior was a bit off. He carefully opened the second largest pocket & pulled out a book. "The school gave me a chemistry book, but I didn't know if I should leave them at home or not." He explained as he set it on the table. He felt like he was sort of making some more friends. They were nice to him & he hadn't been beaten up yet!

When class was finally over, The two jocks raced out of classroom to see who could be out first. Cameron followed. Lightning managed to make it first, giving a little victory dance. "Sha-yeah! I win! Aw yeah! In your face Jo!" He laughed. Jo caught her breath & rolled her eyes. "You are a literal toddler in disguise." She said annoyed. Cameron waved bye at the two. He didn't exactly know where to go, but he didn't know if he should stay or not. "Going so soon eh maggot?" Jo said turning to look at him. Cameron shrugged. "I didn't think you guys would want me to stay or not so eh...heh...yeah." He explained. "It's fine. Go do what you want & you better do your part of the project." She warned. Cameron nodded. "Will do!" He said before running off.

Cameron went to the rest of his classes for that day, which were much easier to find than before. School ended for the day & Cameron walked out, looking around for Mike & Zoey. They seemed like cool people & he was hoping to talk with them again & hang out. "Yo Cameron!" Zoey called out & waved him over. Cameron smiled & walked up to him. "Mike & I are gonna go to the ice cream shop near the center of town right now." She said. "Wanna join us?" Mike asked. Cameron nodded excitedly. He'd never had ice cream before. He knew what it was & it sounded good!

The three began walking to the shop. Cameron had a bit of a skip in his walk. "You seem happy-" Mike commented. Cameron nodded. "I've never had ice cream before, but I hear it's delicious!" He said. "Whoa, really?" Zoey asked. "You're not allergic to dairy, are you?" She asked. Cameron shook his head. "Nope! Just never had it. I've only ever really had bologna sandwiches through a straw actually..." He said. "They get boring after a while." Mike just nodded along to the conversation. "Interesting..." He said. "How come a straw?" He asked. "Food is a choking hazard." He explained to him. "Oh..." Zoey said before they finally made it to the parlor.

Once they all got their ice cream, they continued walking. "How're you enjoying your first ice cream?" Zoey asked. "It's amazing! I've never known there could be so many flavors!" Cameron responded excitedly. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard followed by loud screams coming from the parlor. "Oh jeez...he's at it again!" Mike said in worry. We gotta get outta here!" Zoey said grabbing Cameron by the arm & running to a nearby ally to hide.

What's going on?" Cameron asked confused. He peeked his head out to see what was happening. "This stuff happens in the town." Zoey said. "We don't know why, but the mayor says everything will be taken care of, but it happens sometimes..." She explained further. "We'll be safe as long as we stay here. Buildings can't move around or shoot fire." Mike explained. "& we'll be just fine as long as none of the robots or mutants start attacking." "Robots?! Mutants?!" He asked. Maybe this was why his mother made him live in a bubble.

Cameron sat there afraid for hat seemed like forever. "How long do these things last?" He asked. The two shrugged. "We don't know...it's always just so random!" Mike explained. Cameron looked at his bag & took it off. He had never used his secret weapon before. But now seemed to be a good as time as ever. "I have an idea..." He said opening the largest pocket. Armor began to fly onto him eventually becoming a full, robotic suit.

"What in the world..." Zoey said. "What? How did you get that thing?" Mike said confused. "It's a robo suit I made just in case I interacted with a bully." Cameron explained. "You made that?" Zoey asked. "Yeah, I had a lot of time on my hands..." He explained. "Hopefully this won't kill me..." He said. He'd never actually tested his suit before so it could very much explode at any second. He clicked the heels of his boots & flew off to see what the main cause of the issue was. Robots that appeared to look like normal citizens were attacking the human citizens. "That can't be good..." He said worriedly. He aimed a blaster of his to attack one of the robots.

"Cameron, be careful!" Zoey said in a bit of worry. Cameron was excited. It was a thrill, that's for sure. It was so much fun what he was doing. He'd always wanted to be a superhero, & at that moment, he really felt like one! A cool one. A powerful one. He felt like he can take on the world! Like nothing could stop him! He swooped down to stop the hoards of mutants running rampant.

They were admittedly, really scary. Some of them were just goop,others were innocent animals mutated into these laser eyed blasting creatures. They showed no mercy to him whatsoever. Eventually, they all stopped coming in. He sighed of relief. His limbs were feeling pretty weak. He gave one last tap to fly back into the ally. He needed a break.

He finally landed back on the ground & removed his helmet. He sighed. "Cameron, are you okay?" Mike asked concerned for his friend. "That...was...awesome!" Cameron said excitedly. The suit automatically got removed & entered back into his bag. "I've never in my life seen the outdoors & now I became a like superhero!" He said getting up slowly. "Oh my god, I actually became a superhero!" He said. "Yeah...& you seem happy for it." Zoey said. Cameron nodded. "I am! Except for my legs being tired..." He said. "Just maybe not do it again...this stuff happens often & it could tire you out easily..." Mike warned. "Definitely. It's only gonna be a one time deal!" He promised, stretching. "It's not like anyone saw me anyways!" He said.

Later in the evening, Cameron returned home & plopped onto the couch. He flicked on the TV which immediately switched to the news. There was footage of him. As a superhero. He turned up the volume to listen in. "For the first time ever in our town's history, a robot meant to protect our town rather than destroy it. Do we finally have the hero this town desperately needs, or is this just another robot trying to gain our trust?" The reporter said as the footage rolled.

Cameron couldn't believe it. He was labeled as a hero. Sorta at least. He wasn't sure if he really should continue it however. It would be quite the hassle after all & he said to Mike & Zoey that he would never do it again so he didn't get himself hurt. Then again, it seemed like people needed him. He's have to think about it some more. But if the town really did need him in the future, then he'd be ready.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Cameron had entered the school a bit more cheery. He was happy, feeling like he had actually accomplished something. He walked into school & had immediately spotted Zoey. The girl waved at him & signaled for him to come over. "Did you see the news?" She asked him. Cameron gave a nod of excitement. "I did!" He exclaimed. "I didn't know things in this town were that bad that they needed a superhero!" He said. "Well, that's Wawanakwa for you..." she chuckled. "We get used to it though...besides, no one has ever been killed!" Zoey smiled. "Well, I guess that is a plus."

The two walked downstairs towards the cafeteria. Cameron glanced over at a closed door with a sign reading 'DO NOT ENTER!' He looked at it curiously. It looked as if it was some crime scene. Or a plot to a horror film. "Uh Zoey?" he said. "What's in here?" Zoey shuddered a bit. "Legend has it that this kid named Ezekiel used to go here...he disappeared his freshman year. The last time anyone saw him was when he entered the school's basement..." Zoey explained. "No one has ever seen him ever again after that...take it as a warning to never go in there..." she warned. Cameron nodded admittedly frightened by the tale. Perhaps he should heed the warnings & never go in. Then again...in spite of what he just heard, his curiosity was getting the best of him. He really wanted to open that door. He glanced over to see Zoey walking towards the cafeteria & ran up to keep a close distance with her. It was only his second day & he didn't want to get lost already.

The two walked towards the cafeteria & saw Mike sitting down at a nearby table. He smiled & waved at the two as they sat down. "You heard the news, right?" He asked them taking a sip from the soda in his hand. Cameron & Zoey nodded. "Yup though I'm not sure if I should do it again...after all, you guys said it would be tiring & dangerous-" Cameron said. "Then again..." he trailed off "It was pretty cool & it's better than regular attacks..." Mike shrugged. "At the end of the day, it's up to you. But if you are gonna be a superhero, can I be your sidekick?" he asked. Cameron shrugged. "Well, I would have to build suits for you guys..." he said thinking.

Zoey & Cameron could make the job easier, but then again, he didn't want them getting hurt because of him. He still didn't know how safe his suit was & needed to tweak a few things. Plus, what if their identities got revealed by accident somehow? Then they'd be in danger that way too... He wouldn't be able to live with himself if they were killed all because of him.

His train of thought was abruptly cut off when a pair of hands slammed on the table. Cameron jumped & clutched onto the lunch table looking around frightened like a deer in the headlights. "Excuse me maggots, but I need the dorkazoid over here-" a voice said. Cameron looked up to find it was Jo. He sighed a breath of relief. "Oh, it's just you, Jo..." he said laughing nervously. Jo really spooked him. "Listen maggot, we're talking about the group project at the table over there-" Jo said pointing to where Lightning was sitting. "Uh, I guess I'll see you guys at lunch then..." he said to his friends before getting up & following Jo to another table where Lightning was.

Jo sat down followed by Cameron. Lightning greeted Cameron with a small wave. "Did you see that sha-weet superhero on the news?" Lightning asked. "It's been going all around social media!" Jo shrugged. "Eh, I'm still convinced he's an evil robot & the people he saved worked for him or something-" she explained. "I-I don't think that's true...maybe the super guy is nice & really is a hero!" Cameron said, a bit nervous. He felt weird talking about himself to people he knew he'd have to keep all of this a secret from.

"So, you said something about the group project?" Cameron said, trying to change the subject. "Oh, yeah!" Jo said. "Me & Lightning planned to meet at my house to work on the project after football practice." she explained. "Wanna come?" Lightning asked, giving Cameron playful nudges followed by a wink. Cameron smiled & nodded, agreeing to the offer. "Sounds like fun!" Cameron never really had much fun in his life, growing up in a bubble & all, he never met people. Not meeting people meant that he had no friends or any breaks from his mom. Of course he was incredibly thankful for her, but he did need a break to just enjoy life & not be so dependent on her.

Jo smiled & gave him a rather harsh pat on the back. "Good to hear! It wasn't a choice, but glad you agreed!" The nerdy boy gave a nervous chuckle & nodded. "We're gonna be done at around five-" Jo said before Lightning cut her off. "Feel free to watch my sha-mazing self practice until then..." Lightning said flexing his guns. Jo rolled her eyes, clearly not amused, but Cameron couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

At the end of the day, Cameron sat down on the bleachers outside of the football field & waited for the two jocks to finish their practice. He pulled out a book from his second bag pocket, occasionally glancing up to watch the team play. They all looked like they were having so much fun out there. He wished he could be out there practicing too, but there was no way he could survive playing football. He was a limp noodle! A speck of dust compared to those guys. Thinking about that made him want to be a superhero even more. The day before, he didn't feel like a speck of dust or a twig. He felt like a person...an important person at that. Someone who could actually make a difference. He hoped he could have that chance soon.

The coach had called break & most of the team walked over to the benches to get water & chat with each other. “Enjoying the sight of me winning so far?” Lightning asked gloating. Cameron lifted his head up to look at him. “It’s not bad…” he teased. Lightning looked shocked before thinking for a moment. “Are you just messing with me?” he asked. Cameron gave a small smirk. “Maybe…”Lightning gave a small chuckle. “Well, you really had me there for a second.” Cameron gave a smile at him & looked around the field just to see everything. The whole place was so nice to look at. A nice grassy field surrounded by a running track, two football goals on each end, & a not so nice aroma of chopped grass & sweat. It made Cameron’s nose wrinkle.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake vigorously followed by an ear bleeding roar. Cameron's head shot up, along with everyone else's heads on the field that day. A large orange mutant stomped her way to the football field. Its clothes were ripped, it's hair was chopped off & a weird green color with spikes all around her. Cameron quickly grabbed his bag & bolted out of the field along with most of the people there. He looked for a place to hide. He needed to transform now.

"Whoa!" Jo explained in excitement moving closer to the beast. "I've never seen this type of creature before!" Lightning jumped back. "W-wait, Jo! Don't get close to that thing! It's gonna kill you!" he warned, trying to stop her from getting hurt. "Calm down ya big lame-o." Jo said. "It's just a dumb creature! I could literally moon it & it'd be none the wiser-" Lightning ran over to get Jo away from the mutant. Pulling her arm & everything. Unfortunately, Jo wouldn't budge.

The creature got close to them, bending down to come face to face with the two, letting out a loud roar. Slime flew out of her mouth & onto Jo mainly "Ooookayyy...so she is scary..." Jo said wiping some of the slime off of her disgusted. "Run?" Lightning asked. "RUN!" Jo agreed getting out of there & leaving Lightning behind. Lightning gulped & stepped back before running out of there as well. The mutant began chasing him for what felt like forever. His legs began to give out & felt like they could fall asleep at any second. He eventually collapsed on the bleachers, trying to catch his breath. "I could really use that robot dude right about now!" he called out to no one in particular, just hoping something would happen.

As if by pure luck, a familiar red & yellow robot flew in to swoop Lightning from the bleachers. Lightning let out a small scream, being carried from the sky & all. He looked down at the ground which was a bad idea as it only showed how high up from the ground he was. He immediately clung onto the hero, still scared. "I could also use a million bucks right about now too!" he said hoping the same luck would happen twice.

The superhero landed, setting Lightning down on the ground. The athlete was pretty shaken up about the whole thing. “I’m gonna kill Jo…” He mumbled bitterly. “Just stay here & try not to get in anymore trouble…” the hero said to him before flying off to take care of the monster. Lightning smiled a bit, a light pink emerging on his face. He’d never seen a superhero before...or someone brave enough to put themselves in danger to protect another person they don’t even know! Especially someone who appeared so much shorter & smaller to him in size. He sorta wondered who was under that suit so he could thank him properly.

Cameron flew towards the mutant at lightning speed. He had planned on just blasting it & that being that. It was what worked last time so surely it would work twice, right? Oh, how he was so very wrong. The mutant whacked the teen with its tail, sending him flying into a nearby tree. He looked at his analytics to see how well his suit held up to the damage. "Armor strength at 80 percent!" he groaned. "Looks like this is going to require a little bit more effort..." he muttered before getting out & thinking of a different plan.

He quickly looked around to find something he could use to stop her. So far, there was nothing except for a fence. He left it alone. What could he possibly do with that? The mutant returned to grab him. Cameron tried to struggle out of its grip. Kicking, punching, all of it. It was to no avail forcing Cameron to make his final choice. "Alright, I warned you!" He exclaimed before raising his arm to meet the mutant's face. A bright light emerged from the armor, blasting it with a powerful force.

The creature let go of its grasp of the robotic teenager & yelled in agony. Cameron was unable to stop himself from the fall, damaging his suit on impact. "Oh no...armor strength at 75 percent!" he exclaimed looking around & trying to act fast. He got up & searched around the field. His eyes wandered back to the fence, then at the monster. "The fence kinda looks like...a net!" he gasped & clicked his heels, activating his rocket boots. The mutant got back up letting out a loud roar. Cameron turned his head around quickly & gasped. The monster was coming after him.

He flew faster to try & get the net. He managed to reach it, struggling to lift it. That mutant was gonna attack him & he couldn't lift the fence yet! He needed more time. He lifted his arm up to the creature & let out another blast, knocking the monster further away from him. Then he continued to lift it. It was very difficult. Even with his suit, he wasn't as strong as he thought. That sucked. He thought he was much stronger than that! Maybe his suit just needed some extra work done. Or maybe he needed some work done on himself? He tried to lift it up one more time & finally managed to do it. "Yes!" He cheered before noticing two familiar figures also holding onto the fence.

"Mike? Zoey?" he asked looking at them. It was hard to tell, but underneath his helmet, he was really happy. His smile then turned into a look of worry. "Wait, no. Guys, this is really bad! You guys could get hurt! There's no armor for you guys!" He said. "We'll be fine!" Mike said. Zoey nodded. "Yeah! & we're not gonna just stand around & watch you hurt yourself!" she added. Cameron sighed. He knew he wasn't gonna convince them otherwise. "Alright...can you help me wrap this fence around that monster? Like a net!"

The two looked at each other, then back at their nerdy friend, then nodded. "On it!" Zoey said. Cameron looked up at that thing. It was tall. & he & his friends were so short. There was no way he could carry the fence, his friends, & himself, & still have enough strength to bend the fence. It was impossible! "Ah jeez..." the hero muttered before looking at his surroundings. There was a fence in his hand. Perhaps instead of a net, he could use it as a way to block her from moving in the opposite direction! "I have a new plan!" he stated looking at them.

A loud roar shook the ground once more followed by some more vigorous stomping. The monster was headed right towards them. “Quick, start charging at her with the fence!” Cameron exclaimed. “Alright!” Zoey said. “Wait, what?!”

“Just trust me…” he replied before beginning to run up to the beast. Zoey & Mike followed him, running towards it. The creature tried to charge at them but instead, came face to face with a fence. The three strained to push her away. “What is this supposed to be doing?” Mike asked, looking at the armored robot. “Make it retreat to where it once came.” the other male instructed as he struggled to push the monster up & away from the school. Zoey looked over at Cameron’s boots. “Wait, you shoes! They can help add the extra force!” she exclaimed. Cameron gasped & looked at them. “You’re right!” he grinned. He clicked his heels. “Stand clear of the flames!” the hero instructed before turning his body flat in the air.

The fence pushed the mutant back with a large force. It eventually got up & quickly crawled off from all of the pain. Cameron himself was rather tired, huffing & puffing before ultimately falling to the ground to catch his breath. “Huh...whaddya know-” Jo said, looking from behind the bleachers. “Looks like the superhero is a good guy!” Lightning nodded. “Sha-yeah!” he agreed. “I wonder what his name is...or is he just a mystery hero now?” Jo thought for a minute before pulling out her phone to record & calling out to the new savior. “Hey, hero robot! What’s your name?”

Cameron turned around & slowly got up. He thought for a moment. What was his name? All he could really think were nicknames people called him. Like ‘maggot,’ ‘nerd,’ &...he thought about the name before looking up at the teens. It was a dumb name, but he never really thought about what his name would be before. No one ever asked. But now his name was set in stone. & he liked that name! From now on, he was

"Dorkazoid..."


	3. Chapter 3

Cameron sat at his desk in biology, writing a few things down from his textbook. Yesterday had been wild for him. He was now an official superhero. At least, according to movies, getting a superhero name made you one. He’s never seen any other superhero before so he didn’t exactly know the rules on what made it official or not. Perhaps he could write his own rules on being a superhero as he so pleased.

Lightning sat beside him a couple of minutes later. Cameron looked up. “Where’s Jo?” he asked, putting his notes to the side. “He’s talking with some of his friends,” he replied. “He?” Cameron questioned. He thought Jo was a girl!” Lightning nodded. “Yeah! Well, he always says he’s a girl, but between you & me, I think he’s just trying to play games & mess with my head…” he said to the nerdy boy. Cameron looked dumbfounded & rolled his eyes. “Alright then…” he said, putting his notes back in front of him & writing some things down in it. “Actually, I need your help on something before Jo gets here…” Lightning said. “What is it?” Cameron asked.

“Well here’s the thing, I’m sorta kinda not good with school work…” he admitted. “Like at all…& I really need help with it, but I don’t exactly know anyone who’s smart enough to help...well except you.” Cameron nodded. “So, what do you want me to do?” he asked. “Could you please tutor me? Or just help me sometimes with school?” he asked. “I’ll even pay you for the help if you want-” The jock said practically begging.

Cameron thought for a moment & nodded. “Alright, I’ll help!” he replied. “You don’t necessarily have to pay me, but it would be nice I guess… Of course, we would need to come up with a schedule...” he said to him. Lightning grinned & nodded. “Thanks Cam! You’re the best!” he said to him. He gave him a big bear hug. The brainiac’s face heated up & he gave a small stutter of a “You’re welcome…” He couldn’t exactly breathe from the hug, but it felt nice. Lightning eventually let go & pulled out his phone to play around a bit on it. Cameron smiled & turned back to his notes.

Class came, & class went & Cameron went away along with the students. He passed by the same door as before. The door that he remembered seeing the previous day. Curiosity began to get the best of him as he reached for the doorknob. He had to know what was in there. After all, there was absolutely no way a student disappeared on school grounds! He carefully twisted the knob & began to push the door open. It was dark. There seemed to be a lot of steps. It was quiet, eerie with a subtle reek of what he assumed was sweat & what he assumed were dangerous toxins. He quickly closed the door. Maybe the school had a reason to keep a warning side at the front of the door.

“What are you doing near the basement?” An unfamiliar voice asked. Cameron quickly turned around to see a much taller, ginger teen in an off white tank top & blue jeans. Standing next to him was a shorter female in twin buns, a green & purple sweater, & a skirt to pair with it. He assumed them to be a couple due to them holding hands while talking to him.

“I’m uh, doing nothing…” Cameron lied, adjusting his glasses, looking back up at them. The taller male gave a smirk. “So you weren’t gonna go to the school’s ‘cursed basement’ & see for yourself?” he asked. Cameron sighed. “No, I was...but it’s just so tempting!” he explained. “I don’t understand why everyone’s so afraid of it.” he said looking at the door. “I get it…” the female piped up. “Curiosity of the outside world would get the better of me as well if I were trapped in a bubble since early childhood…” Cameron’s eyes widened. “How did you-” he was promptly cut off by her. “It’s all over your aura!” she explained. “Oh Dawn, not this again…” the ginger mumbled. “No need to freak out...she just likes to do this kinda stuff sometimes. Cameron slowly nodded his head. “I see…” he said. “Uh well thank you Dawn &...” he looked at the male. “Scott.” the teen answered. “You?” he asked. “Cameron.” the nerd replied before walking off.

Suddenly, the school seemed much, much weirder to him… Maybe it was the fact that a stranger knows exactly how he was raised as a child when she was not there & passed it off as reading his aura. That possibly couldn’t be true. Or maybe it was? He didn’t know anymore. After all, the town has mutant monsters rampant around the place with no warning.On top of that, there’s a scary basement where a student supposedly went missing.

Cameron eventually managed to find Mike & Zoey & he approached them. Mike gave a small wave. “Did you hear what the mayor said yesterday after the battle?” he asked Cameron. The teen shook his head. “No, but I assume this is about the hero…” Zoey nodded. “Uh huh. He said he’d be asking Dorkazoid to help keep the city safe & would love to meet him in person!” she said excitedly. Cameron smiled. “Really?!” he exclaimed. “That’s awesome! But also kinda scary too...I mean, what if someone tries to remove my helmet or something & my identity is exposed?” he said thinking of some of the things that could go wrong. “Or perhaps I end up getting hunted down & attacked while in there!”

“Whoa, dude…” Zoey said. “Calm down…” she said. “You are way overthinking it!” she reassured. “Besides, it may not even happen!” Mike added. Cameron sighed, calming down a bit. “You’re right…” he said. “I mean, it may not even happen. & I’m sure I can handle it!” he said. “Glad you think you can handle it.” Mike smiled. “Now, can we please get to the cafeteria?” he asked. “I haven’t had breakfast today so I am starving!” he said, already walking in the direction of the cafeteria. Cameron & Zoey followed him down there however, Cameron stopped, overhearing some voices coming from a nearby hall. He backed up a bit, listening in to hear what the voices had to say.

“Hurry up man, we gotta finish this before anyone sees us!” a voice said. Oddly, it sounded familiar. It certainly wasn’t the voice of a female. Like one that he heard today. It wasn’t Mike’s voice, that’s for sure. Didn’t sound like Lightning’s either. He listened in closer, moving his head to peek out a bit. Two figures were standing & talking about something. “I’m hurrying up as fast as I can!” another voice replied. That person didn’t sound like someone he knew. “Well hurry up faster! We’re gonna get caught!” The bickering went on for a while. He wasn’t sure what they were talking about. A quick look at the figures showed them holding stuff. A large sack & what appeared to be hay. Cameron knew he shouldn’t be eavesdropping like that, but he wanted to listen in some more to figure out what was going on.

“Uh, what are you doing here?” a voice asked Cameron rather loudly. Cameron jumped up & let out a yelp. That got the attention of the two teenagers arguing. They saw Cameron & walked over to him, putting whatever they were holding down. Cameron went to move, but the other person stopped him. It was a teenager with short hair, glasses, a collared shirt, a sweater vest, & some shorts. “You aren’t going anywhere.” she said to him. Cameron gulped, swallowing a lump in his throat.

“Hey, it’s you again!” one of the figures said. It was the same guy he had met earlier that day with another girl. What was his name? Scott? He gave a weak wave. He was hoping to be able to lie his way out of another situation again. “I uh, got lost on my way to the cafeteria…” he explained trying his best to keep a poker face. “You seem to get lost a lot, huh?” he said to him. Cameron gave a small nod followed by a nervous chuckle. “Eh, I mean, I’ve only been here for like three days…” he said rubbing his arm. “Well, I caught him listening to your conversation.” the girl responded, crossing her arms. “Courtney, cut the kid some slack.” the teen said to her. “He’s new. He said it himself, he’s been here for three days. He even got lost earlier today.” he explained. “So you know him Scott?” another voice asked. Cameron looked over to face him.

It was a tall male. Almost towering over him. He had a flat haircut as well as a unibrow. He wore a tank top with a mix of a light & dark green together as well as jeans & a chain on one side of them. Scott nodded. “Yeah, the kid almost entered the school’s basement.” Scott answered. “You nearly entered that thing?” the girl asked. Cameron nodded. “Yeah…” he said. “Uh, may I ask...what were you two doing?” he asked. “I didn’t hear much while walking, but I heard something.” he admitted. “Oh, we’re just...working on a project for school!” Scott answered.

“We’re gathering things to use for it. Biology class is weird, ain’t it?” the other male answered. “I see...” Cameron said. It made sense. He bought that story. “You got a name?” the more militant teen asked him. Cameron nodded. “Uh, yeah...Cameron.” he responded. “Well nice to meet you then Cameron.” Brick said. “You’ve obviously already met Courtney, aka, the girl who can scare the ever loving crap outta everyone.” he said, pointing to the girl who was scowling at Cameron.

Cameron nodded. Something about the whole interaction didn’t sit right with him. It seemed odd on why Courtney was also there. Or why they needed a sack & some hay for a project.

Especially a biology class. He was in biology & gathering things like sacks & hay were never part of the project. What would they be used for anyways? The more he thought of it, their answer didn’t make sense. “Well then, I uh, gotta go…” Cameron said. “I need to find the cafeteria…” he explained. “Well, it was nice to see ya again Cameron.” Scott said. Cameron nodded & smiled a bit. “Oh, & next time,” Courtney began. “Don’t eavesdrop…” she said to him with a small scowl.

Cameron quickly nodded before walking off, almost in a hurry. He made his way back to the cafeteria, still puzzled as to what school project they were doing. They had to be doing something else, but what could it be? He entered the cafeteria & got his lunch before sitting down where Mike & Zoey were. They were talking with one another & laughing about something that he didn’t really hear. “Cam, where were you?” Zoey asked. “You just disappeared.” she said.

“I saw some people carrying hay & a bag of something so I wanted to know what they were doing. Apparently, it’s a biology project…” Cameron explained. “I always hated biology…” Mike said. “It was always so...boring ya know?” he said opening a soda can in his hand. “Are there any projects that require those kinds of materials?” the brainiac asked him, adjusting his glasses. Zoey shrugged. “I guess it depends on what the hay is used for & what’s in the bag…” she said. He paused for a moment. Thinking about the situation in his head. He shook it all off. It wasn’t his business anyways. Besides, curiosity just got him into more unwanted confrontations.

Cameron looked around the cafeteria. He wasn’t looking for anyone or anything in particular, his eyes were just wandering around the room. There was a small commotion happening at one of the lunch tables. A girl, who was somewhat petite, wearing a pink jumper with short hair was talking about something. It seemed like a big deal, so he asked his friends what was happening. “Uh, what is she talking about?” Cameron asked curiously, pointing to the girl. “Oh, you mean Staci?” Zoey asked. “She’s been going on all day about her knowing Dorkazoid. She says how she knows the identity of him & stuff like that.” She explained. “W-wait, she knows?” Cameron asked. He got a bit jumpy. No one but Zoey & Mike should know of his identity. “Relax, she doesn’t know a thing. She’s known for telling a bunch of lies about people. No one believes a thing she says.” He reassured him. “Well, that’s relieving,'' he said, slowly sitting back down again.

School ended for the day & Cameron began walking back home. He really had nothing else better to do that day anyways. Lightning & Jo were at football practice, & Mike & Zoey had a test they were studying for. So Cameron had nothing to do for another few hours. He walked along the street but paused as he heard commotion again. He followed where the voice was coming from out to see three figures carrying hay & a large bag towards a football field. He raised an eyebrow & watched them closely. It seemed to have been Scott, Brick, & Courtney again. They were talking about something.

“You guys need to hurry up!” Courtney exclaimed. “Chef can only hold the football players in the cafeteria for so long!” she said. “Well, why don’t you do some of this work instead of bossing us around?” Scott asked, lifting a big bundle of hay & throwing it on the ground. “Why do we need all this stuff anyways?” Brick asked, straining to lift whatever was inside of this bag. “Once we press the button, the hay will flare up & it’ll become like daggers or something that we can use for a distraction while we get the attack started!” Courtney explained. “What’s the point of that?” Brick asked. “I don’t know! I didn’t make this plan!” she scoffed.

Everything sounded muffled, but he got the gist of it. Something about hay daggers & mutants. It was a creative plan. Stupid, but creative. He doubted it would work though. The football team is gonna notice the hay, unless they are really THAT stupid. The real question for him was why those three were doing all of this. Unless it’s not really them or something. Maybe they’re clones? Who was this Chef anyways?

He slowly backed away, not wanting to get in trouble by anyone. “Hey dork-” A voice said. Cameron turned around to face the person talking to him. He adjusted his glasses & looked at the two jocks in front of him. “Oh, hey Jo, Lightning…” he greeted. “What are you two doing here?” he asked. “We have practice here! Sha-duh…” Lightning exclaimed. “If I hear one more sha whatever from you again, my fist is gonna reach your face.” Jo threatened. “Hey wait, what are you doing here?” she asked. “Oh, well I heard some commotion on my way home & saw Courtney, Scott, & Brick doing something here so I came to check it out.” he explained. “Ugh, again with those guys?” Jo groaned. “Just don’t give them the attention. They always do these kinds of outlandish things. Never work anyways...” Cameron just nodded as he listened to Jo talk about the three. “Uh, so when should we meet for the project? I know that we should get to work on it all together soon since yesterday, we had minimal time due to the uh, commotion…” he said. “Uh, we can work on it tomor-” Lightning was cut off by a loud blow of a whistle. The coach was calling for all of the players to meet on the field for practice. The two athletes jogged over towards where the coach was. Cameron fixed his jacket & walked back home. Just to unwind. He didn’t know when the next attack would be, so he had to be prepared for any time. Then again, sleep was so...nice…

Cameron woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. He looked to see who it was. Zoey was calling. He picked it up. “Hello?” he said tiredly, rubbing his eyes. “Cam, where are you right now?” the other spoke. A crash was heard on her end of the line. “Zoey? What’s going on over there?” he asked, trying to give himself some sort of extra energy. “Bring your suit & get over to the giant mall, now.” she said. “There’s a squid monster in here & it’s really mad!” Another crash could be heard before Zoey yelped & hung up the phone. Cameron put his phone away & quickly grabbed his backpack before heading downstairs. “Uh, mom! I have a project to get to!” he lied before running out the door. He didn’t even give his mother, who was cooking dinner, time to respond.

“Zoey, look out for the barrels!” Mike exclaimed pointing at an octopus creature hurdling barrels at citizens. Zoey ran next to Mike & hid under a table. “When’s Cameron gonna get here?!” Mike asked, looking around for him. “I don’t know! I just called him! He said he’d be here soon.” Zoey said. The sound of rocket boosters could be heard as an armored figure had entered the mall, looking for the monster. It wasn’t hard to find, but it was going to be hard to get rid of. Dorkazoid scanned the area for anyone close to the monster. If he got them out of the way, then there would be an easier time fighting the-

“HEY! LET GO OF MY PIZZA YOU OVERGROWN CALAMARI!” a voice yelled, punching one of the squid’s tentacles. The hero turned & saw Jo dangling upside down as the squid was holding her above the ground. Meanwhile, Lightning was trying, & failing to punch the squid. “Hey meathead!” Jo yelled at Lightning. “What about me?” she asked. “Oh yeah. & let go of Jo too!” he yelled at it. The squid mutant grabbed onto Lightning by the jacket & lifted him up in the air before throwing both him & Jo across the room, causing the two to scream. Dorkazoid activated his rocket boots & zoomed over to catch them. Carrying them both plus the weight of the armor made everything extremely difficult for him. He was just glad he managed to catch them. “Well then, thanks Dorkazoid…” Jo said dusting herself off. “Yeah, thanks dude!” Lightning said, giving the hero a shoulder bump.

Dorkazoid nodded. “Just try your best not to get into trouble...you guys are gonna give me heart attacks-” he said before flying off to look for any more civilians. There were a lot more than he thought. He noticed a hand under one of the tables & flew down to see who was under it. He was glad to see it was Mike & Zoey as now he knew that they were at least safe. “There you are Ca-I mean Dork...azoid.” Mike said. “Where the hell were you?” Zoey asked. “I just took a nap!” Dorkazoid explained. “It’s almost 6:00!” she said. She was in a panic. “I guess I overslept then…” he replied sheepishly. Another barrel was thrown towards their direction. Dorkazoid snapped back into hero mode & not socialized mode.

Staci meanwhile was looking at the whole ordeal. She was more amazed that everything she had been hearing about at school for the past couple of days was unfolding right in front of her eyes. She finally got to see Dorkazoid in action! Dorkazoid looked up & saw an open ceiling above to where they were. He flew up & checked to see if it could fit the monster through. It might if he got it to be a bit shorter in length. “I think I could manage this…” he mumbled to himself. He swooped down towards the monster who Staci had ran up to in order to get a closer look at the action about to happen. “Hey wait, look out!” Dorkazoid said, trying to prevent her from getting hurt. “Oh, hello Dorkazoid!” Staci said.

The hero rolled his eyes. Did these people enjoy having their lives flash before their eyes?! He lifted his fist up to aim at the squid's eye, activating his blaster. The monster let out a scream of sorts, hitting Staci away & into the air. Dorkazoid quickly caught her, almost letting her slip. “Are you okay?” he asked looking at her. She nodded. “Next time, don’t get so close to a giant mutant monster that could make you a pulp in seconds-” he instructed before going over to finish the job. He quickly grabbed onto one of the tentacles of the octopus & strained to lift it up. He hadn’t done many modifications to the suit he had from yesterday to now. His suit wasn’t as strong as he’d like it to be. He’d have to make a mental note of fixing some of the features in it later. He activated his rocket boots to the highest setting he could & blasted off with the mutant. Hopefully, it would be able to fit through the ceiling’s opening. It did & he was glad of that. It took a bit of effort on his end to push it out of the mall, but once he did, getting it away from the city was a breeze.

Zoey peeked her head from under the table to see what was going on. She eventually saw Dorkazoid come back down & land on the ground covered in a type of goo, but not damaged. Mike got out from under the table fully & helped Zoey as well. Dorkazoid looked around to see the damage. It seemed repairable. If needed, he’d help with the work for it. But right now, he needed to get out of the view of people & fast. He ran off, the metal of his boots clinking to the floor of the mall. He had used up all of his power on shooting at the monster earlier & barely had enough left to fly home.

Staci curiously followed him, finding another root so as to not look suspicious. Dorkazoid eventually managed to hide near an empty side of the parking lot in the mall. He pressed a button which removed his suit for him. “I definitely need to clean this thing up…” Cameron said to himself as he stuffed it back in his bag. Staci watched all of this play out from afar. She had seen that person before. A couple of days ago near the ice cream parlor. Interesting...


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SUPERCAM ISN'T DEAD I SWEAR- I had MAJOR writer's block & this chapter went through MANY drafts before the final draft.

"That was a really close one Cam!" Mike said walking down the street beside Cameron & Zoey. "You really need something to help alert you during an attack if you really want this superhero thing."

Cameron sighed. "I know! I just passed out from all of the exhaustion. Perhaps I can make an alert system or something on my watch or something." he said as he rolled up the sleeve of his jacket to look at his watch. "It shouldn't be too difficult to do overnight."

"Hey bud, as long as you'll have time to sleep & not pass out in the middle of class, then do that," Mike said, putting his hands behind his head as he walked.

Zoey nodded in agreement. "Also, don't overwork yourself with the whole superhero thing. This isn't the same thing as the movies," she warned.

Cameron nodded as he began to reconfigure his watch. "Oh trust me, I think I got it," he said as he unknowingly walk towards a busy intersection.

"Uh Cam," Zoey said. "Watch out!" she called out. Cameron looked forward & quickly stopped himself from walking any further. Cars began zooming in front of him as he stopped. He turned his head to face Mike & Zoey who were not too far behind him.

The sign then turned white, indicating he could cross. "Uh...like I said. I got it!" Cameron exclaimed as he ran down the road giving a thumbs up. He fumbled on his own feet as he ran but eventually ran out of the other two teenagers' sight.

Mike crossed his arms, shaking his head as he watched Cameron run. "He's definitely gonna need help."

Zoey nodded. "Yup. A lot of it..."

Meanwhile, Lightning & Jo had just walked out of the mall. Lightning was eating the cheese off of his new slice of pizza while Jo walked beside him, glaring at the boy. "Thanks for prioritizing a crappy piece slice of mall pizza over your friend jockstrap!" she said.

"Sha- what?" Lightning asked. "It was a pizza! You would've done the same thing too!" he said in defense.

"Not if you were dangling upside down by a giant squid thing! I mean seriously! I could've been killed by it!"

"Hey! I was trying by sha-punching that thing!" Lightning defended. As he talked, he waved the pizza around.

Jo shoved the pizza away from her. "No, you were specifically asking to let go of the pizza! That's different than asking someone to let go of a fully fledged person!"

"You're getting way too upset with this!" Lightning argued back.

Jo crossed her arms. "Uh, no I'm not! Knowing you, you would've ran to the pizza if it dropped on the floor before I did & you know it! You just don't wanna admit it because you'll look bad!"

Well, she had him there. "Sha-please! that superhero dude would'a saved you anyway!" he said, rolling his eyes.

"Uh newsflash not so brightning! Superheroes can fail! A robo suit can run out of power!

Machinery can fail! & you know that if it did, I would've been dead because you care more about a stupid pizza than me!"

"I care about you sha-more than some pizza, you sha-know that!"

Jo glared at Lightning, raising an eyebrow. "Okay Rudolph the asshole, drop it."

Lightning gave her a confused expression. "Drop what?" he asked.

Jo pointed over to the pizza. "That precious pizza of yours. Drop it if you wanna prove it."

Lightning shook his head.

"Nu uh. I'm not wasting food to prove something!" Lightning was quite stubborn of a person, never wanting to admit his own faults even if he was wrong. He knew he was, but admitting it was too much of an 'I told you so' from Jo. He also knew that no matter what, Jo wouldn't live this down & would always bring it up.

"Are you seriously choosing a pizza over me again?!" Jo was so close to storming off. The entitlement of Lightning! Choosing a pizza over her own life! A pizza! Who does that?! "Look smart ass. It's either the pizza or me. Choose the pizza, fine. We'll finish the project & I'll tolerate you at football, but our years of friendship? Over." Was she really going to end her friendship over a pizza? Yes. Did she care? No. If Lightning was gonna die on that hill. She'll die on the bottom of it. Away from that pizza loving jerk.

"Fine! I choose the pizza!" Lightning snapped. "Because at least this pizza had never left me for sha-dead when running away from some creature! Or made fun of me when I didn't know how to count to ten! At least this sha-pizza never made me feel like absolute shit all of the time because of petty things & this pizza didn't make me choose between me & a pizza!"

With that, Lightning stormed off, slamming the pizza to the ground. He didn't even care about the dumb pizza anymore. He was more so mad at Jo. He didn't want his friendship to be over, but Jo gave some stupid ultimatum.

Jo shook her head as Lightning walked away. She knew Lightning would forget about it by the next day. He always forgets & they forgive one another. The whole ordeal would be fixed by 6:00. No questions. She'd be willing to bet her life on it!

It was a good thing Jo hadn't bet her life on it. Otherwise, she'd be dead. She was in class, sitting at one end of the table., Lightning on the other, & in the middle, Cameron. The jock kept giving dirty glares in Jo's direction. Cameron was watching the whole ordeal rather puzzled. The nerd cleared his throat.

"Uh, I think I can catch you guys up on the rest of the textbook for this unit!" Cameron said. "I took the liberation of making cornell notes of the whole thing, listing only what I had deemed the essentials." he opened a pocket in his bag & took out a large notebook, setting it on the table.

"Nice job Cam." Lightning said, seemingly turning away his attention from Jo for once in the whole day. "I wouldn't recommend being too attached to that notebook unless you want Jo to make you choose between it or her!" Him not being mad at Jo was too good to be true at this point.

"Well I know for a fact that if I were in danger, Cameron over here would most definitely not have to make a choice between a notebook & me because he'd obviously save me." Jo turned to Cameron giving a creepy smiling expression. "Right pencil neck?"

Cameron gave a small nod. "It would be a pain to have to rewrite the notes if destroyed, but I could always replace it."

Jo turned back to Lightning. "Ya hear that jockstrap? You can replace a notebook! Just like you can replace a pizza!"

Lightning crossed his arms. "Well, I Cameron wouldn't have to be forced to choose unlike someone you know."

"Yeah. Because it'd be an easy choice. A human life versus a notebook!" Jo said. "Not that difficult of a choice if you asked me.

"Well if both of you were dangling by a giant monster, that'd be pretty hard to rescue any of you in the first place!" Lightning replied.

"Well he wouldn't be shouting for his notebook, he'd be shouting for me!" Jo pointed to herself. "He'd also be trying to get me off from the monster's grip!"

Lightning scoffed. "Sha-please! Smart guy over here couldn't jump over a kiddie hurdle! How's he gonna defeat that giant thing?" Oh, if only he knew how wrong he was about that.

"Yeah? Well he'd try & not wait for 'Dorkazoid' all of the time because he knows that Dorkazoid would fail eventually & everyone would be doomed! You can't put all your cards on one table when you know there's a chance that will fail!"

"Well excuse me for believing a superhero would be able to do their job during a time when they're needed to do their job!"

Cameron slumped into his chair as the two continued going back & forth. Something told him this wasn't about the notebook...

"Uh, as I was saying." Cameron interrupted. He didn't want the teacher to notice them discussing something else. He held up his notebook. "The notes." he slid them over to Lightning to read.

Jo chuckled. "I wouldn't give then notes to Lightning over here. The guy can't even count to ten without messing up. Reading notes is like asking a kindergarten to play a symphony."

Lightning glared before snatching the notes from the table. "I don't think he asked for the

opinions of my intellijuice!"

"Intelligence," Cameron corrected.

"Yeah, that," Lightning said as he flipped through the notes.

"See, you can't even say big words!" Jo said, laughing at the stupidity of Lightning.

"Yeah huh!" Lightning said.

Jo crossed her arms, leaning back into her chair. "I'm not even gonna argue with you," she said.

Lightning huffed & turned away from Jo. "Well I'm not talking with you neither!"

Cameron cleared his throat. "Well actually, it's grammatically correct to say 'either' as opposed to saying 'neither' when there's already a negative such as 'not' would be-"

Lightning cut the boy off. "Sha-yeah, yeah, I got it," he said.

Soon, the bell rang & Jo immediately stormed off, pushing through a few people. She could not believe the nerve of Lightning! Blaming her for all of this stuff! He chose a dumb pizza over her life! He said it himself! She heard him! She knew he could be selfish sometimes, but she never thought he'd be that selfish as to choose a pizza over their friendship!

Cameron sighed before gathering his things & packing up. There was no way he would be able to get the two on board with all of their yelling & ranting at one another! It would be near impossible! He slung his bag over his shoulder, got up & walked out of the class.

Lightning followed not too far behind him. "Hey uh Cameron, are you still able to help me with tutoring today?" he asked.

Cameron nodded. "Sure. Perhaps during lunch in the library. You know where that is, right?"

"Uh, yeah. I think..." Lightning said. "It's by the basement & cafeteria."

"Good because I honestly was unsure as to where it was," he chuckled. "It's why I asked."

Lightning laughed a bit. "Surprised you didn't know where it was sooner. Always thought smart guys like you had some map of every library stuck in your head."

"Yeah, that's about as plausible as me being some superhero!" Cameron joked. That part wasn't false, but Lightning didn't have to know that.

Lightning didn't seem to be as upset as Jo was so maybe he would be easier to convince forgive Jo for whatever happened. Maybe if he told Jo that, she'd apologize too! He didn't want to have to choose sides anyways.

Jo wasn't too hard to find. She was stomping down the halls, practically like a bull in a red colored china shop. The only hassle was to get to her without causing a scene or escalating the situation.

"Uh, Jo!" Cameron called, running over to her.

Jo turned around to face the smaller teen. "What do you want?" she asked.

Cameron hunched over, catching his breath. He picked himself up again, adjusting his glasses. "Well, I have good news. Lightning forgives you." he said.

Jo's face scrunched up, her expression sour. "He forgives me?" she asked.

Cameron, not paying attention to Jo's facial expression nodded. "Yup! He said that it's okay for what you did & he forgives you!"

"Are you kidding me?!" she snapped. "Lightning bolt should be asking for my forgiveness! He chose a pizza over our friendship & all because I tease him sometimes even though he knows that's how we do things!"

Cameron backed up a bit. That was a mistake he'll never do again. "I-I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you think. Sometimes anger can blind your perception of reality!"

"Oh yeah, asking a giant squid to let go of a pizza while it also is grabbing your friend is really blinding my perception of reality!" she said sarcastically.

"Uh perhaps it was a heat of the moment, or he was trying to make you laugh? In the right circumstances, it could be a thing to laugh about!"

Jo put on an arm around Cameron's shoulder & looked him dead in the eye. "Bubble boy, listen. I've known jockstrap for years. It wasn't comedic, it wasn't heat of the moment. That right there is his stupidity. Hid true intentions during a dire situation. They are his priorities during crisis. He doesn't care unless it's personal gain. Frankly, I can't think of a time he did something other than that. I know you wanna defend the guy but really, you've never met him up until a couple days ago. I've known him my whole life. He has some perks, but he's not someone I'd trust to help during another monster attack. Those are just the facts."

Cameron nodded. "Yeah, I understand."

"I'm only saying this so you don't expect him to save your ass if you go to the mall one day with him & you get attacked by some weird octomonster." It was a little bit of that. But it was also her wanting to get Cameron on her side too. She can already tell. Cameron wants to give everyone the benefit of the doubt & play devil's advocate when really, it's not always a good thing. Especially when he's so naive.


	5. Chapter Five

Cameron had royally screwed up. He really shouldn't have tried fixing things on his own. Especially because it could probably result in a fist fight or something by the end of it. With Jo getting mad at Lightning for 'forgiving her' or Lightning being so stubborn & refusing to apologize for being such an idiot & prioritizing a pizza over a friend. It seems odd that after being friends for so many years, the two jocks' friendship will end over a slice of pizza & poor word choice. 

He was especially surprised at the fact that Jo had so much built up resentment towards Lightning for all of those years. The fact that he supposedly couldn't count to ten may have been some warning sign that he wasn't one to think with his head. Then again he did play a sport where brain damage was quite common. He frankly didn't have time to do a project, tutor Lightning, & fix his group's problems on top of saving a whole town!

Now his only problem was figuring out how to get them in the same room at once. They could barely tolerate each other inside of class, let alone outside! 

"All I'm saying Jo, is that the three of us working together & being on the same page would be much more simple than if I were to go back & forth & speaking for each of you!" Cameron said as he walked alongside Jo, who was heading toward her next class.

Jo payed no real attention to Cameron & tried drowning the boy out. She finally responded. "No can do string bean," 

"But why not? Can't you just somewhat tolerate him until the project is over?" he asked. 

Jo shook her head. "I already gotta deal with the jackass during class & during practice. So literally every day except on weekends." she said. "I will not give up any more of my free time to willingly spend it with him of all people!"

"He can't be that bad. Didn't you two hang out before this whole fight?"

"Yeah. & he practically left me for dead last time because he's putting too much faith into that superhero dude just like the rest of this town!" Jo exclaimed, opening the door. "I swear I'm gonna find out who this Dorkazoid is & give em a piece of my mind & a mouthful of my fist!"

Cameron gulped at the comment. He shook his head & waited by the door as he wasn't going in. "Perhaps all it takes is a conversation!" he suggested.

Jo scoffed. "Lightning can't even pronounce conversation, how's he supposed to have one?" 

Well, that was true. He hated to admit it though. He turned around to head to the library. "See you later Jo." he said as he went down the hall to where the library was. 

All he had to do was tutor Lightning, finish the project, & then he'd never have to deal with either of those two again & he'd have less on his hands & could focus on much more important matters. 

He opened the doors to the large room, looking around the place. He'd never actually been in a library. Needless to say, his first experience was rather...underwhelming. The library was practically empty. The books looked untouched. Only a few people were in there, including the staff. It also seemed to be warm in there. Very warm. As if the room had never heard of an air conditioner before. He was honestly surprised Lightning of all people knew where it was considering no one else seemed to. "At least there will be no disturbances." he said under his breath before walking in. He sat down & took of his jacket, tapping his foot for what seemed like hours until Lightning finally arrived. 

"Sorry I'm late." Lightning said as he sat down beside the nerd. "I had to get something to eat."

Cameron pulled out his previous notes, flipping through some of the pages. He looked up at Lightning. "Surprised you didn't come in here with a pizza in your hand." 

Ouch. "I'm guessing Jo told you then?" Lightning said. 

Cameron nodded "Yup. & Frankly her statements have quite a bit of truth to them. You can't depend on one guy to save someone & you can't prioritize a pizza that's going to be an afterthought over a friend who you've known for years. That superhero is just one person & can't exactly come to the rescue at the push of a button." That would be nice though. But also would disrupt to his schedule. 

"Well now you tell me," Lightning said throwing himself on the back of his chair. 

"I couldn't exactly tell you prior to now," Cameron responded. He then cleared his throat. "Now, I'm going to write a few more things down for the project & then help you, alright?" he said.

Lightning nodded. He wasn't quite sure on what he should be doing in order to be tutored. He opted to taking a random book on the shelf, opening it, & pretending to read. He hoped Cameron didn't notice. 

The shorter boy looked up to see Lightning 'reading.' He was rather amused at the attempt, but he wasn't falling for that. He decided to entertain the idea. "What book is that?" he asked the jock. 

Lightning wasn't expecting Cameron to ask. He also wasn't expecting to have to answer. "Well uh...you know, the one about that Hamlet guy," he lied. 

Cameron quirked an eyebrow, slightly amused. "Do you mean 'Hamlet?'" he asked. 

Lightning nodded. "Sha-yeah! It's a really nice book!" 

"Doubt that." he snickered. 

"What do you mean?" Lightning asked. 

Cameron tapped the cover of the book. "For one thing, this is a history book, not a literature book. Though it is possible you can be reading a textbook talking about it, I doubt you could read a book upside down," he chuckled. 

Lightning looked at the book, flipping it around to see the cover. "Oh..."

"I'm guessing this is why you asked for assistance?" Cameron joked. 

"Kinda," Lightning admitted. "I'm not what you'd call the...smart type. Maybe not even the normal average type..."

Cameron looked down at his notes, propping up his glasses to the bridge of his nose. "Hm, I've noticed that. I also seemed to have noticed that said type is what upset Jo in a way."

"Yeah, Jo gets pretty pissy with me. A lot," Lightning grumbled, crossing his arms. "The dude can't even go a sha-day without calling me something like 'ratning,' or 'light bulb,' or 'not so brightning' sha-stuff like that! Oh & 'jockstrap' Jo always calls me that!" 

"It doesn't seem to be that bad..." Cameron reasoned. 

"Yeah? Imagine going by 'pencil neck' or 'maggot' every day for ten years! It gets old. Fast," the jock said, hitting his head on the desk in annoyance. 

Strange. The two seemed to have very different reasons for being upset with one another that have only now become issues. Jo always calls people weird nicknames, including Cameron, & Lightning seems to always do stupid things. "Perhaps you should talk to Jo? Maybe even apologize. After all, it could resolve other issues," he suggested. 

Lightning picked his head back up & scoffed at the idea. "Sha-really? The guy is more stubborn than me! Besides, he should be the one to apologize!" he exclaimed. "Jo always brings up every fuck up I've ever done & uses it to embarrass me! At practice, or in class, even when we were ordering pizza at the mall! Jo's all 'hey did you know jockstrap over here wet his pants in kindergarten?'" 

If Lightning were to be honest, he was being petty with Jo. That was their dynamic. Him not talking to Jo the day after the whole ordeal was him being petty towards her. Who starts an argument over a pizza or some words said in danger? 

Cameron stayed silent for a moment before moving on to the next thing as to not add fuel to the already large fire. He wanted to be a mediator in the feud & not say anything to make Lightning feel upset as he already accomplished that with Jo earlier that day. 

"Moving on," Cameron said. "I suggest we work on the actual things you require assistance in rather than blabbering on about unrelated topics & pretending to read literature." Cameron tapped the book with his pencil as a signal.

"Uh yeah, yeah," Lightning said. He put the History textbook down & picked up Cameron's notebook & flipped through a page of vocabulary words. "Uh so one thing I'm not sure of is the uh..." He looked at the word, squinting his eyes to see how to pronounce it. "Carry on? Core-i-un? Um, this word." Lightning pointed to the word 'carrion' on Cameron's notebook. 

Cameron adjusted his frames & looked at the word Lightning was pointing to. "Oh! That's pronounced as 'carry-in' Its definition is actually quite simple to understand. It's just decaying carcass or dead animal material. You know, the remains of animals. 

Lightning looked at the word. "Ohhh carrion," he said. "Huh, interesting...there's a word for everything, huh?" he chuckled. 

Cameron nodded. "Yep. & in 7,000 languages too!" 

The two continued the tutoring session until the end of lunch. Then, it was a couple more classes, then the end of the day & Cameron could finally relax & finish up his suit some more. That was as long as he didn't have some other attack happen again. But if there were such a thing to happen, he'd be more prepared with the new alert on his watch. 

After school, he met up with Mike & Zoey. He was mainly ranting about the situation that occured today & how stressed out he was due to him being unable to get his group to work together now. "& now Jo won't even be in the same vicinity as Lightning & Lightning won't apologize!" he explained, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. 

"Yeesh," Zoey commented. "That sounds...really rough. Though it is normal for them to fight. Then again, it should've been resolved by now if that was the case. They fix problems really easy since annoying each other is kinda their whole thing." 

"Well clearly they're not doing that & are just going to wanting to strangle one another! I can see it in their eyes!" Things were so much easier in his bubble. He honestly missed it in there. Why did he have to take on so many responsibilities? 

"On the plus side, you don't have to deal with them for a while!" Mike said, trying to give something nice for Cameron to think about.

That's right! The two can't get into any monster trouble if they aren't spending any time together! Plus, there were no monsters so he'd have a break for a while!

Suddenly, the ground shook vigorously followed by loud screams & a roar. He spoke too soon. A mail box began to hurdle towards the three teens at lightning speed. 

"Incoming!" Zoey cried. 

The three jumped out in opposite directions, dodging the mail box which made a loud crash sound as it hit the ground. 

Cameron immediately got up & ran in the direction of the chaos. "Gotta go now, see you guys after this!" he exclaimed as he ran as fast as he could towards the chaos. 

Great, just his luck! First he got barely any sleep, then the arguments of his group, & now this! & it was like what? The fourth day? Was it too early to retire now? He certainly didn't think so!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! I hope you guys like this chapter! I will try to post daily along with a drawing I made to go with the chapters!


End file.
